KL Saracens had a taste of quality international rugby at the Cobra 10s over the weekend of the 10-11 November, coming up against hosts Cobra as well as experienced campaigners from South Africa and New Zealand. The first game against Cobra saw a big step up in performance from the warm-up games the previous weekend, with the KLS team giving a much better account of themselves before ultimately going down by a score of 19-5. Next up were SA Tigers, and again the Sarries boys battled well, but were repeatedly outdone for pace by the electric South African wingers, a number of times having been turned over inside the Tigers 22 having patiently worked their way into a strong position. The 31-0 scoreline somewhat flattered the opposition (who went on to win the Plate Final), however it was a life-lesson in what good sides will do to you if you are not disciplined with possession. Game 3 saw KLS facing the Global Barbarians from New Zealand, a more physical and direct side than Tigers with whom Sarries found it tough to live, succumbing 33-7 to the ultimate Cup runners-up (it would seem that we had drawn a pretty tough group!). This set up a Bowl Quarter Final against DUKA from South Africa which arguably turned out to be KL Saracens’ best performance of the weekend. A pulsating affair saw DUKA go out to a 12-0 lead before KLS had really woken up, but the boys reacted and scored a great team try, working the ball wide in a movement that started inside our own half to make the score at half-time 12-7 to DUKA. KLS repeated the feat shortly after the half to take a 14-12 lead, but this prompted DUKA into a more direct approach of hard running and close support, through which they scored two more tries to go into a 22-14 lead. Saracens did not give up, and were unlucky not to have been awarded a penalty try with two minutes to go when a certain try in the corner was stopped with a high tackle.

KL Saracens chase a re-start against DUKA at the Cobra 10s

All-in-all, it was a great experience for the KL Saracens team who were made up of 5 players from the current Academy, 5 from the current 1st XV squad and 4 guests. Thanks go to Cobra for inviting us to participate and to our generous sponsors for making it possible.

The KL Saracens team were kindly sponsored by a number of individuals, families and companies as well as by our main Cobra 10s sponsor Bukit Bintang City Centre